Children should be allowed to leave school at 14 and start work to boost
Britain’s economy, the former head of the Confederation of British Industry
has said.

Disruptive pupils would be better off abandoning mainstream education and “earning a few bob” to encourage growth, Lord Jones of Birmingham believes.

The former Labour Trade Minister said British businesses are struggling through a lack of skilled young people, meaning employers are forced to hire workers from overseas.

Allowing youngsters to embark on vocational training and get jobs at 14 would fill the skills gap while stimulating economic growth through increased spending, Lord Jones said.

However teaching leaders warned that the idea would lead to millions of young people becoming “trapped” in low-paid jobs, having dropped out of academic studies without basic levels of literacy and numeracy.

Lord Jones, who was himself expelled from public school for streaking, said: “We’ve got to appreciate that the world’s changed and there are loads of kids in school today who at 14 are more mature, and so many of them are disruptive.

“They are disruptive to themselves, disruptive to the class, and they’re disruptive to the teacher.

“This isn’t about saying ‘school’s out, away you go kids’, this is about going into a technical college, doing a couple of days a week on a vocational course and going into a business or indeed a public sector employer, and getting the link in their mind, in their DNA, that if you get better skilled, you make more money.

“Then, of course, if they make a few bob, they spend it and what do you do when you spend money? You create jobs.”

The former CBIdirector general claimed that with more skilled young people and a weak pound, Britain could re-establish itself as a manufacturing centre and rebalance the economy away from the banks and public sector.

Lord Jones, who is now business ambassador forUK Trade & Investment, added: “The unemployed, especially the young unemployed, have got to get a skill, because there aren’t jobs in Britain if you haven’t got a skill.

“I act for a lot of manufacturers who say the biggest inhibitor to succeeding in Britain in the 21st century is ‘I haven’t got enough skilled people and I don’t want them from Poland or India, I want them from Britain’.

“Why is it that so many young people say ‘I won’t go into this, I’d rather be on the dole because I’ll make more money than being in work’? Then the jobs go to people from other countries who are prepared to work harder for less.

“I want a situation where business and other employers, colleges and schools link together so that younger people, instead of being disruptive actually can make themselves a few more bob, and add to the wealth of the country.”

Head teachers claim the scheme would drive down education standards, leaving millions of young people ill-equipped for the challenges of a changing economy.

“If we allowed people to leave school at 14, we would be letting loose a cohort of people in the workplace who are simply unprepared.

“Research shows that early specialism is dangerous, especially at a time when we simply do not know what sort of workforce we will need in 20 or 30 years time and young people are going to have to work longer than any previous generation.”